The Veil Read online

  “I am actually in love with Concavious,” said Hollie as she looked around.

  The place was surprisingly busy for an early morning, and I suspected most of the patrons were leftovers from the previous night. A handful of tables were filled with bleary-eyed Pandemonians, who slurred their words as they spoke, and smoked long, thin cigarettes between sipping their drinks. A couple of drunks were slumped over at the bar, their untouched drinks sitting by their elbows. The barman – a reedy looking Elf with white hair – was cleaning some glasses and stacking them at the end of the bar. He glanced up and nodded at the Lawbringer as we entered the pub.

  “Are all of these people mercenaries?” I whispered to the Lawbringer.

  “Most. But most of them aren’t worth your time.” He pointed to the people collapsed over the bar and snoring loudly. “If they can’t even get through a day without being drunk enough to pass out, what good are they going be at keeping you safe in the Pandemonian oceans?”

  “Good point.”

  “One of these will do you nicely,” said the Lawbringer, pointing towards the darker corners. “Costlier, but most of them will actually be able to accomplish what you need…for the right price of course.”

  There were several to choose from. Males and females of various species lined the shadows, each in silence with stern expressions and looking like they meant business. But it was the wizened face in the very darkest nook of the pub – smoke curling up from the black cigarette clamped in his mouth – that caught my attention.

  The man was wearing a duster similar to the Lawbringers’ and a grimy white shirt. His face scowled as he stared down at a worn set of colourful cards he held in one hand, and ignored the hostile stares of his Imp opponent. There was something about him, something that made me want to go closer.

  “What about that one?” I said to the Lawbringer.

  “No Guardian, not that mercenary. He is trouble.”

  Maybe it was the outsider in me, but the Lawbringer’s warning only made me want to find out more. A moment later the man nonchalantly threw his cards down. The Imp swore and dived over the table towards his opponent. The mercenary slid backwards on his chair and kicked the table with a boot, driving it right into the Imp’s stomach. The Umbra gasped and doubled over; the mercenary grabbed his hair and rammed his head down so hard onto the table that he knocked the Imp straight out. He slid the unconscious Imp across the table and then let him fall to the floor, scattering cards and glass tumblers everywhere. The man settled back into his chair and took a puff of the cigarette. Then he glanced up, sighing as he caught sight of the Lawbringer. It was at that moment that I realised why I was drawn to the man. Why out of everyone in the Jackalope and Hart, I’d focused on him.

  The mercenary was a Chosen.

  36

  Scarlett

  The Lightshuttle continued along Death’s Backbone for another five hours before it crashed.

  I spent most of the time after my deadly encounter sitting at a table in the dining cart with surgical gauze wrapped around my throbbing throat and a bag of blood wired intravenously into the back of my hand, waiting as my wounds healed themselves. I had explained that it made sense to all stick together so that we could keep an eye on the Lightwardens. But the real truth was that I was too scared to be on my own.

  If it hadn’t been for Mikey, I would be dead.

  That realisation was as frightening as it was confusing. It seemed strange that after all the times I had fantasised about finally experiencing peace from the perpetual torment of life – when death had finally arrived to make amends for all the times it had passed me by– I had been terrified.

  I glanced at Mikey, who had his good hand clasped in mine and his eyes closed. He was lost in his vivid memories – the Vampire’s substitute for dreams. It was because of my love for him, and my family of Guardians. For the first time since Ma, Pa and Connor, I have people worth living for.

  Aran was standing guard over the traitorous Lightwarden Elissa, who had both her hands and feet bound with diamond lined handcuffs, her expression calm as the apotrope bindings stole the energy from her. Lightwarden Udan was hunched over in his chair, his head low and wearing a guilty expression, as he no doubt considered the chain of events that his selfish and cruel decision had begun.

  Iralia was dozing softly, her boots off and pink-socked feet up on one of the dining tables, a half eaten can of Umbra food clutched in one hand, and wings wrapped around her like a blanket.

  Sophia was sitting on the floor in one corner of the shuttle, cradling Midnight in her chest. The Familiar had turned back into a cat – the default form among all the variants – and she was stroking his tail absently as she stared into space.

  Sliding my hand out of Mikey’s, I gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. Picking up the bag of blood, I slid out of the booth and made my way over to where Sophia was sitting. I pointed down at the spot next to her.

  “Mind if I sit down?” I croaked, my voice still straining against the wound the Lightwarden had given me.

  Sophia was lost in her own thoughts and it took a moment for my words to penetrate. When they did, she turned her head up to look at me and shrugged. “Yeah…I guess.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a smile and sat down next to her. I leaned across and stroked Midnight’s ear. The Familiar gave a purr and rubbed his head into my hand. “How is he?”

  “He’s going to be okay,” said Sophia quietly, stroking a hand underneath his chin. “The injury transferred from his wing to his leg when he altered form. It’s better for him I think…less painful.”

  “Is there anything we can do?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No. Like I said, he just needs time. I wish I could do something more, but…I can’t.”

  “I know how you feel. Sometimes we all wish there was more that we could do. But we can only do what’s within our capabilities.”

  Sophia didn’t respond. Instead she hunched over Midnight, stroking his fur absently. I’d spent less time with Sophia than most of the other members of Orion, and frankly I’d always found it uncomfortable that in their desperation for new Awakenings the Alliance had allowed a ten-year-old Chosen to join the ranks. However, that little girl had always been a glow of sunshine around the base, her smile and positive, excitable persona making her an infectious person to be around and absolutely impossible not to adore. In that way she reminded me of my brother Connor, and I loved her even more for it. But since Midnight had died, something had been irrevocably damaged inside her. And then when the ageing spell had gone wrong and she’d become cursed to age rapidly until she died, that damaged part of her had completely snapped, leaving an incomplete person behind. It was the same way that I had felt after my encounters with Master Clarke and the Silver-Eyed Man.

  The loss of innocence.

  “How are you?” she asked after a while, glancing at my neck.

  “Sore, but I’ll get over it. I’m just glad we were able to weed out the crazy from our group before we found ourselves in a deadly situation.”

  Sophia nodded and stared down at the floor. I could tell that there was something else on her mind, something that was dragging her even lower than usual.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart?” I asked, pressing a hand against her cheek.

  “I’m fine,” she said, moving her face away from my hand.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Don’t,” she warned.

  “Sophia.”

  “Why won’t everybody just leave me alone?” she muttered.

  “Pardon?”

  “I said leave me alone!” she screamed, so loudly and unexpectedly that it made me jump. Everyone stared over at us in confusion. I tried to reach out to settle her, but she stood up and stormed from the carriage, Midnight limping after her as fast as he could. Mikey, and Iralia both started to get up, but I raised a hand to stop them.

  “I’ll go.”

  I ran from the room after Sophia, passing through
the carriages until I caught up with her in the narrow walkway by the bathrooms. She had her hands pressed against the walls and breathing heavily, a gasping sound escaping her throat. Midnight was rubbing around her ankles and making unhappy mewing sounds as he stared up at his distressed companion.

  “Sophia, are you okay?”

  She glared at me, her eyes glistening with tears. “Stop asking me that!” she hissed between gritted teeth. “All any of you ever do is stare at me with pity and ask me if I’m okay! You want the truth? Okay, Scarlett. No I’m not okay. I’m about as far from fucking okay as you can get!”

  Sophia had been such a quiet person since the spell accident that it seemed no one – including me – had noticed her gradually pressurizing in the background, moving closer and closer to bursting point. And now, in this world, on this shuttle, she had reached it.

  I tried to wrap my arms around her, but she pushed me away hard enough to slam my back against the wall.

  “Stop it! I don’t want your bloody sympathy!”

  I ignored her protests and tried again. Again she pushed me off her, screaming in my face to leave her alone. But I didn’t stop, and I didn’t leave. Instead, I moved close to her and wrapped my arms around her once again. This time when she tried to fight me off, it was done without conviction.

  “Stop it, please,” she said, her voice cracking.

  I hugged her tightly and slowly she wrapped her arms around me. As I pressed my cheek against hers, I felt the defensive barriers fall apart and she started to cry. Tears brimmed in my own eyes as I stroked the back of her head, as the sadness poured out of her in racking sobs. I could feel and recognise every ounce of her misery and hopelessness.

  “I’m not okay,” she whispered between her sobs.

  “Sweetheart,” I soothed. “Talk to me. Let me help.”

  Sophia’s small frame continued to tremble as the tears kept coming. The floodgates to the parts of her she kept hidden away had been opened, and she cried with absolute desperation and abandon, clutching onto the back of my jacket as if letting go would mean falling from the edge of the world.

  “I’ll never get the chance to say I’m sorry,” she wept.

  “To who, darling?”

  “Gabriella,” Sophia croaked, and then couldn’t speak as another burst of sobs consumed her. Midnight kept meowing desperately and rubbing her ankles as he tried his best to comfort her the only way he knew. It took a while for Sophia to settle enough that she was able to continue speaking.

  “I made Ella think I don’t love her anymore,” she whispered. “But I do. I love her so much. She was there for me before and after I lost Dad. She’s always been there for me, looking out for me and keeping me safe, like a sister.” Sophia’s voice wavered as she tried to keep control.

  “It’s just, I’ve been so angry and upset since everything went wrong, I’ve been so wrapped up in my own misery that I didn’t stop to think about anyone else’s. I was furious with Ella when she took that spellbook away from me. Still, it was me that did the spell anyway and somehow got it wrong. It was my fault, not hers. But Ella blamed herself and I blamed her too.” Another stream of tears spilled from Sophia’s eyes. “I-I’ve just been so awful to her. I’ve watched the guilt eat her up from inside and I never once told her it was okay. I’ve let her believe it was all her fault rather than admit my own mistakes. She didn’t deserve that. All she’s ever tried to do is protect me.”

  The tears that had been stinging at my eyes spilled down my cheeks as I held the breaking girl in my arms.

  “B-but now Ella’s been taken by Lilith and I’m aging so fast. I know that one of us is going to die before I have the chance to see her.” Sophia held onto me even tighter. “I don’t want her to die, Scarlett,” she sobbed in a voice so sad and lonely it tore at my soul “I don’t want to die either. Not until I tell her that I love her and that I’m sorry.”

  For the sake of Sophia, I forced myself not to fall apart too. The emotions of the desperate young girl brought out my own fear of losing my closest friend. I held Sophia close until the floodgates started to close again. When her sobs slowed and she had started to regain herself, I pulled away from her and held her at arm’s length, staring right into her eyes. “Gabriella is not going to die. Every single one of us is going to make damn sure of that. I wish I could stop you from ageing but I can’t. What I can do is promise you that we are going to get Gabriella back to us long before it’s your time to leave. Do you hear me?”

  Sophia gave a nod as the tears spilled down her face. Almost as some kind of divine cruelty, her emotional release started to have an effect on her curse. As I looked at her, I noticed subtle changes as her face matured. When her body settled, she looked closer in appearance to someone in their mid-twenties than the early twenties she had moments before. The rapid alteration in her appearance was even more alarming for me, someone who would never age physically beyond the sixteen years I had reached over a century ago.

  “Thank you,” sniffed Sophia. “But please can you promise me something else?”

  “Anything,” I said with as much of a smile as I could manage.

  “If I do die before we reach her, tell her that I’m sorry. That I forgive her and that I will always see her as my sister. And tell her that I love her with every inch of my heart.”

  “Sophia…”

  She stared right into my eyes. “Just in case?”

  I paused for a moment and then sighed. “Okay.”

  “Thank you.”

  I heard footsteps and turned to see Aran standing quietly behind us. I had no idea how long she had been standing there, but I saw that she was holding the orange flower that she had picked in Fenodara in her hand. Without a word she walked over to Sophia and set the flower gently in her hair. Then she turned and walked back out of the carriage, closing the door behind her. We both stared at each other in stunned silence and then Sophia started to cry all over again. I held her in my arms whilst she shed the last of her tears.

  When her tears had stemmed, I scooped Midnight up and held him close between us. He let out loud purrs and rubbed his head against our faces.

  “I’m sorry I ignored you, boy,” said Sophia, taking him into her arms. He turned and licked her tears away, making her giggle – the sound of her laughter a melody to my ears

  “Gabriella isn’t the only one who cares about you. We all do,” I said, kissing her on the top of her head, near the flower. “You’re not alone in this, you never were.”

  Sophia wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pressed her head to my neck. “Thank, you Scarlett.”

  “You’re wel–”

  A piercing siren cut me off, wailing through the carriages. Then the damaged voice of the shuttle burst over the speaker system. Warning! The track ahead is damaged. Potentially lethal derailment will occur within nine madren.

  The alarm wiped away all traces of our conversation, and in seconds Sophia and I were back in Guardian mode. We both rushed through the shuttle carriages, bursting back into the dining cart. “How long is six madren in minutes?” I demanded, staring at Lightwarden Udan.

  He was standing up, his eyes wide with fear and Aran and Iralia’s guns trained on his forehead. “Six minutes.”

  Oh my god. I stared down at the bound Lightwarden Elissa and then at Lightwarden Udan. “Do you know how to control this Lightshuttle too?” I asked him, trying to keep my voice calm.

  “Yes. But I also know that we are travelling over twelve hundred Earth miles per hour. Even with brand new bakes, we wouldn’t have enough time to stop this shuttle from crashing, only slow it’s speed before it does.”

  “Shit!”

  “Listen to me,” continued Lightwarden Udan trying to walk towards me, and getting Aran’s gun pressed against his temple for his efforts. “One of these carriages will be an emergency detachment unit, designed for exactly these types of events. We need to find it and get everyone inside, or we are all going to die!”

  “
How do we know which one it is?”

  “You can’t, that’s the problem!” he said frantically, swatting away Aran’s gun. She glanced at me and I nodded for her to lower it. “From what I know, these old shuttle carriages were constantly being shuffled about and replaced as they became defective. It became far more cost effective to add the detachment system to a pre-existing carriage, rather than build a completely new unit each time. On each new journey the detachment carriage was noted on the Shuttlemaster’s itinerary – which might still be around somewhere. Beyond that, after fixing the unit to the correct shuttle, the fitters simply marked it with paint–

  “–On the outside,” I finished.

  He nodded.

  “Perfect.”

  “What do we do?” asked Mikey, sliding himself out of the booth and rushing over to join us. “Can the Gargoyles tell us?”

  I shook my head. “I doubt it. They wouldn’t even know what they’re looking for, and I definitely don’t know how they’d communicate which one it was to us, even if they did.”

  “What about Midnight?” said Iralia. “Send him out.”

  Sophia pulled the Familiar tighter into his chest, as if she could hide him. “His wing was damaged, he’d never survive at this speed.”

  I ran a hand through my hair as I calmed myself and thought up a plan. Three minutes left. Stop messing around and act.

  “Right.” I pointed at Aran. “You and Iralia take Lightwarden Udan and Elissa through to the control carriage and get one of them to slow this damn heap down. Whilst you’re there, look for that itinerary. Mikey and Sophia, I need you to round up the Vengeful, mounts and supplies as fast as you can. As soon as I locate the right shuttle, I’ll vocal-link you and tell you which one it is.”

  Mikey’s jaw slackened. “Scarlett, you’re not about to do what I think you are, are you?”

  “Probably.”

  He motioned for my arm, but I moved away from his reach. “Please Mikey, there’s no time to argue this. We’ve got minutes before we all die! Just do what I asked. That’s an order!”